The net is closing on coral reef bombers

By Michelle Knott

COASTGUARDS will soon be hot on the trail of fishermen who are illegally blasting many coral reefs to rubble as they use bombs to increase their catch.

Blast fishing is a problem in many places throughout South-East Asia and along Africa’s east coast. Although it is illegal, efforts to stop it are hampered by poor detection rates. “Blast fishing is often known to occur in a region through sporadic arrests and anecdotal observations, yet the scale of the problem is often not appreciated as most blasts go undetected,” says George Woodman, who works on the listening project led by the marine sensors group at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

One problem that has hampered development of a detection system for underwater explosions is the cacophony produced by the claw-clicking “pistol” shrimp that live on reefs. Pistol shrimp near the detection system can generate short-range shock waves that

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